The present disclosure relates to a sheet discharging device for discharging a sheet to a sheet tray and an image forming apparatus provided with the same.
Generally, a sheet tray to which a sheet having an image formed thereon is to be discharged is arranged in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine or a complex machine provided with these functions. The sheet having the image formed thereon is discharged to the sheet tray through a discharge opening by a discharge roller arranged above the sheet tray.
If a sheet is curled, the trailing end of the sheet discharged from the discharge roller may be lifted to close the discharge opening. Accordingly, there is known a technique for preventing the lift of the trailing end of a sheet by pressing an end part of a plate-like Mylar member against the sheet and pressing the sheet downward at a position within a predetermined distance from opposite ends of the sheet.
However, a lift amount of the sheet differs depending on properties of the sheet such as the thickness of the sheet, the hardness of the sheet and the easiness to curl of the sheet. Thus, in the case of pressing a sheet with a constant pressing force as in the above technique, depending on the properties of the sheet, the pressing force may be insufficient, whereby the sheet may be lifted or an excessive pressing force may be applied to cause the bending of the sheet or a sheet jam, thereby causing trouble in discharging the sheet.
The present disclosure aims to provide a sheet discharging device and an image forming apparatus capable of easily adjusting a pressing force applied to a sheet according to properties of the sheet.